I hope anyone reading this is doing ok and finding time to be healthy and safe during this crazy period.

This weekend I took up a fun little social media challenge from my friend @tomastomas108 – the #108sleevesinternetchallenge
I decided to post them on here also as it is quite a broad spectrum of my work, from my first ever sleeve on @jorgeteran into a selection of sleeves in somewhat chronological order, ending with one I finished a few weeks before the lockdown started. This represents approximately 17 years of tattooing.
I strongly recommend checking out @tomastomas108 work if you haven’t seen it before, totally mind blowing and his contribution to the art of tattoo is phenomenal. Thank you, to all the amazing clients through the years, can’t wait to get back to work. I’d also like to say sorry to those I didn’t include in this with sleeves from me, I don’t have all my photos anymore.

The beginning of this year has been one of creativity introspection, I made a rash decision on the 1st of January to not post any tattoos on my main Instagram ( I may have started a new one that’s private for now as I attempt to do one abstract painting a day for the whole year…… more on that later) and try my best to disengage from any interaction on the platform for a while, instead turning that time into drawing and reading.

Creativity is the Key to surviving 2020!

The Secret Life of a Rock, Hasselblad 500cm Ilford sfx 200.

My good friend David Hines recommended this book towards the end of last year and it is providing a wonderful insight into the way I look at pictures, wether it is something I am photographing or a drawing/painting I am creating.

I now find myself wanting to capture more of my tattooing on film, below are some images from the last few months, thank you for reading through and taking a look at the photographs.

A portrait of Carl Brunson, an inspiring and talented painter I am very fortunate to tattoo.

And as a little foot note, today my good friend Dennis Mcnett AKA @Wolfbat dropped by the studio today and gifted me this set of woodblock printing tools and materials as he will be teaching me some of his amazing craft, more info on that as it progresses!

Thank you Dennis and thank YOU for taking the time to look at my work.

@michaelwaters_atx started his lower legs today so I got some photos of his healed back and thighs, very proud of this one and humbled by Michaels commitment and trust he’s given me with his back. If you are looking to get work by me I am currently giving preference to customers looking for large work, full backs and fronts. I know this is a huge commitment in time and money and I truly appreciate the kind of undertaking that this is, thank you everyone that enquires about getting tattooed I wish I could accommodate everyone.

Over the past year I have been compiling a new collection of hexahedron based patterns for my tattooing and art.

The end result was 1600 patterns, I felt that this collection was something I wanted to share with people who like my work, so I edited it down to 694 of the strongest ones. The result being a 694 page, 5×8 book of patterns, weighing in at 2.5 lbs / 1.2 kg.

I am really happy with how the book turned out as I hope some of you will also be, I did all the preproduction from the patterns to the design and layout of the entire book.

The first 200 books purchased include two 8″ (h) x 5″ (w) letterpress prints of patterns based on the front and back cover.